In Ever-Shrinking N.H.L. Coverage, Even Islanders Are Cutting Back

As news budgets have shrunk, so has coverage of the Islanders, in some ways the New York metropolitan area’s forgotten team. A quarter-century removed from their dynastic glory years, the Isles are the least visible of the region’s three N.H.L. clubs in a sport that the former Ranger Jaromir Jagr once said was “maybe No. 5 in popularity — after fishing” in the minds of New Yorkers.

To combat the diminishing coverage devoted to them, the Islanders embarked last September on a journalistic experiment that proved surprisingly successful: a news blog that, while financed by the team, was not housed on the team Web site and had complete editorial independence.

By the end of the season the blog, Islanders Point Blank, was drawing 500,000 users monthly. But even though it may serve as a model for other pro teams, the blog’s future is uncertain since the Islanders scaled back their support this summer.

“I’m trying to keep it going,” said Chris Botta, the proprietor and sole writer. “But I honestly can’t say how it’ll go for next season. I’ve been talking to news outlets, Long Island businesses, trying to line up support, but there’s nothing definite so far.”

Botta had worked for the Islanders for 20 years, 13 as its public relations director, when he left the team after the 2007-8 season to become a consultant and an adjunct professor. But the Islanders’ new president, Chris Dey, approached Botta last summer about starting the blog.

“I was new to the sport of hockey, and in the process of becoming a fan I saw that an important thing was missing,” said Dey, a Hawaiian and the son-in-law of the Islanders’ owner, Charles Wang, who joined team management in 2007.

“We needed more insightful, dedicated coverage of the team. It was a business opportunity, and I felt that Chris was perfect for that kind of position.”

Botta said, “I told Chris Dey when he approached me that the only way it could work was if I was completely free to write whatever I wanted, without interference from the team, and he agreed.”

Botta wrote about three posts daily throughout the Islanders’ last-place 2008-9 season. His work was informed by his close contacts with players and officials and by his involvement in the team’s institutional history, stretching back to such high-water marks as the Pat LaFontaine era and such low-water marks as the ill-advised adoption of the “fish sticks” uniform.

Although Botta was always transparent about the source of the blog’s finances, his posts frequently broke news and were often critical of the team, especially its handling of goalie Rick DiPietro’s persistent injuries and Coach Scott Gordon’s handling of Bill Guerin and other veterans.

“I worked it just like a beat guy at a newspaper worked it,” Botta said.

When some 10,000 fans showed up at Nassau Coliseum on June 26 to watch on the video scoreboard as the Islanders chose John Tavares No. 1 at the N.H.L. draft in Montreal, it showed there were a lot more loyal Islanders supporters than most outside observers realized.

Loyal fans were up in arms in late July when the Islanders, who had been making budget cuts since January, told Botta they would reduce their financial commitment to Point Blank. After Botta announced it on the blog, there were online petitions supporting him that had more than 1,500 total signatures.

Last week Botta began a freelance assignment that he said he owed to the popularity of Point Blank, writing regularly about the N.H.L. for AOL FanHouse.

Dey said that the Islanders hoped Botta could find backing for Point Blank because “we’d love to see it continue with Chris’s commitment, passion and insight.” But if not, Dey added, there “might be an opportunity for another entrepreneur to cover the Islanders in a similar manner.”

Botta said that other teams were intrigued by his blog’s success.

“I’ve heard from half a dozen N.H.L. teams, all based in the U.S. and covered by only one beat reporter, looking into doing what Point Blank did last year,” he said. “I told them, ‘Get someone you’re comfortable with, a former employee or someone from a newspaper who hit the wall or who got laid off.’ ”

The idea of having professional teams pay a blogger a monthly salary, as the Islanders did with Botta, to provide independent coverage disturbs some journalism experts.

“If this kind of thing gains in popularity, what’s to guarantee that you’ll get a situation as benign as this one?” said Sandy Padwe, a former sports editor who teaches at the Columbia Journalism School. “It bothers me; there’s too much of a downside to it. There’s too much of a risk that the coverage will not be objective.”

Despite the ethical issues, Botta said, he would not be surprised if Islanders Point Blank served as a template for team-supported blogs, perhaps in lacrosse, soccer or for women’s pro teams, but especially in his own sport.

“Hockey teams have to take matters into their own hands, given the business climate,” he said. “Coverage of the N.H.L. is not increasing; it’s only going down, especially in terms of the written word.”

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